Singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson’s show Friday at Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café followed much the same path as his career.

The show’s start was inauspicious, with Nathanson throwing off songs much in the way he tossed off four albums and two EPs before his 2003 disc “Beneath These Fireworks” caught anyone’s attention.

In fact, the inattentiveness of the near-sellout crowd of 1,100 was so distracting that Nathanson’s quiet performance of “Bottom of the Sea” inaudible to a lot of the audience.

But by a third of the way through a 20-song, hour-and-50-minute set, Nathanson’s performance caught fire much as his last two albums – 2007’s “Some Mad Hope” and 2011’s “Modern Love” have. And with no small reason: two thirds of the night’s songs were from those two discs.

It wasn’t that Nathanson’s performance of the first few songs was bad. If anything, he approached every song flat-out uninhibited, singing the opening “Falling Apart” with his eyes closed and body moving sinuously – as he did often through the night.

He sang “Modern Love,” the title track from his newest CD, in a vulnerable voice, standing with no guitar for one of the few times during the night, and “Mercy,” also from that disc, was percussive, beat-y and sexy. “I wrote it about the Kardashians,” he said.

In fact, Nathanson’s between-song asides were some of the early part of the show’s best moments.

Commenting on how hot it was in the club – contrasted to the cold in which patrons had to stand outside before doors opened an hour late; the opening act was scratched and some at the back of the line got in after the show started – Nathanson told them, “Now we’re going to sweat our respective junk off.”

Before “Bottom of the Sea,” he commented on how “Under The Sea” from Disney’s “Little Mermaid” contains perverted sexual references. And he riffed on the line in Billy Joel’s “Allentown” that says, “iron coke/chromium steel.” “Anybody here manufacture their own coke?” he said.

When he sang the song’s line about Bethlehem – and the crowd finished it for him – Nathanson said, “It’s like the national [freaking] anthem here. Next time we’ll go to Easton.”

But some of the songs were underwhelming. “Pretty The World” was OK, but flat. The harder “Detroit Waves” was harder, and even less successful.

Nathanson finally lit a spark with a cover of the 1993 James hit “Laid”: Great singing and nice guitar work from his four-man band. And he followed that with “I Saw,” the music and harmonies warm and his singing even stronger – a long note at the end was particularly nice.

A cover of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” as a duet with a second acoustic guitar was interesting but not that entertaining. It could have been more interesting: Nathanson teased the possibility of songs b y Mariah Carey, Michael Buble [he was incredulous at the crowd’s cheering response] and Katy Perry.

After that, the show caught fire. The night’s oldest song, “Fall to Pieces” from 2002’ “When Everything Meant Everything,” was dynamic and exceptional, played as a full-band acoustic set-up, with standup bass and drum kit and accordion.

“Kept” was OK, but it segued right into “Drop to Hold You,” which built and built, and got better and better as it did, seemingly totally lost in the moment as he sang in a high falsetto. The band was back to full electric for a strong “Car Crash” – the crowd yelling the words – which he finished with a snippet of Cee Lo Green’s “(Forget) You.”

The new “Room @ the End of the World” also contained a cover snippet – Modern English’s “Melt With You” – and he teased Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” (the guitarist nailed the fast intro) and George Michael’s “Faith” before a wonderfully done version of his recent hit “Faster.” On it, his singing ranged from falsetto to growl.

He sang “Run,” his recent duet with country band Sugarland, as a drum-driven, simmering solo, and closed the main part of the set with a heartfelt “Wedding Dress,” his singing soaring.

“We’re going to walk off stage and pretend we won’t come back unless you clap,” he told the crowd, with dripping sarcasm, before the encore. Then, upon returning, “We were halfway down the street when we heard the yelling and remembered we had not played our biggest song.”

That was the cue for “Come On Get Higher,” which really was a tour de force – six minutes of a wonderful song sang wonderfully, Nathanson lost in its power, repeating over and over “I wanna take you higher” as a delicate coda.

But he played a full 12 minute after that. On a surprisingly good cover of Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again,” the frenzied crowd’s full-throated response caused Nathanson to gasp, “Oh [stuff]!” And the rest of his band left him alone on acoustic guitar for a muted, quiet “Little Victories.”

This time, the audience seemed more attuned to the tenderness of the song, and quieted accordingly.

First of all there is at least one factual error in this review and that is the fact that the opening act was scratched. It definitely was not scratched (although I wish she was). I am not even sure of the woman's name but she was awful and all songs sounded exactly the same. I also have to disagree with the review. I thought from begining to end of the show, Matt comanded the audience and although I did not know every word to every song I was captivated the entire time. Matt was definitely very funny in between songs, but overall I say this concert was definitely an A.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.